Hissy, Hissy Little Snakey
by Obsessivegeekybuffalosnowcones
Summary: Set during HBP. Not very canon. Luna is taken to see the Dark Lord at the beginning of the school year by Draco Malfoy. And somebody gets a little obsessed with her. Not LunaXDraco. Written by SDM.
1. Prologue

Hissy Hissy Little Snakey

Luna, Draco, and Voldemort

Prologue

Draco Malfoy was incredibly nervous. He was walking across the seventh floor of the castle. Only a wall of classrooms separated him from Gryffindor Tower, and without Crabbe and Goyle, who at the very least gave him a certain presence of intimidation, he was feeling remarkably apprehensive about sneaking around enemy territory. The last thing he wanted was for Potter to pop out from around the corner while he was pacing opposite the tapestry of dancing trolls.

He reached the corridor and began to stride back and forth. He continually muttered, "I need a place to hide. I need a place to hide," until a large golden door shimmered into the previously blank wall. He entered the Room of Requirement to see rows of and piles of broken junk. He moved rapidly through the stacks of mangled furniture and discarded illicit objects. He knew the paths through the room of unwanted items almost as well as he knew the hidden corridors in the labyrinthine dungeons. He stopped at the broken Vanishing Cabinet that Montague had trapped in the previous year. Pulling out his wand, he began uttering spells under his breath. He desperately wished yet again that the stupid thing would just mend with "Reparo."

After half an hour of absolutely no success, he decided to take a break and read one of the Dark Arts books he'd discovered in a blood-stained armoire. He had just arrived at a new chapter promising to inform him about a curse that drained water from the body, when he heard a high-pitched scream echo in the hallway.

Draco froze. He didn't dare risk leaving the room lest someone might see what was in it. Surely somebody would have heard the blood-curdling, feminine yell. Some "courageous" Gryffindor would come to her aid. But the girl kept screaming and whimpering. There no sounds indicative of another person attempting to assuage her painful shrieks.

He picked his way back to the door and waited for a sign of hurried footsteps or panicked voices. None came. He cracked open the door and stepped outside. It was Loony Lovegood. She was clutching her left arm that appeared to be bleeding badly. _Curious_, he thought, _they told me she didn't feel pain._

"What happened, Lovegood?" he drawled. She just lifted her head to stare at him with big, glassy eyes that for the first time he could remember looked petrified in fright. She looked back at her arm and squealed again as Draco saw her skin being cut again as though by an invisible knife. She looked like she was going to be ill. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. She didn't open her eyes despite Draco's best efforts to get her attention. He waved his wand at her, and she began floating in front of him down to the infirmary.

A/N: Written by Sorina. I already have several chapters written, but typing them takes forever. This is the best story I've starting writing. I fervently hope to finish it.


	2. Chapters 1 & 2

Chapter One

Several months earlier…

Draco warily walked in the drawing room. His master sat in an armchair by the roaring fire. He walked slowly and knelt down at his feet. "My Lord wanted to see me?" he asked.

"Yes," the Dark Lord hissed at him, "I want you to tell me about the other students who escorted Potter to the Ministry."

"Er… Weasley and Granger went of course. I think Weasley sister was there with Longbottom and umm… Lovegood, sir."

"I want you to bring one of them to me. It shouldn't be too hard to get one of them alone. Bring them here. I'd like to ask them a few questions." His eyes glinted.

"Yes, of course, sir," the young Malfoy replied shakily.

"And don't forget your other task either, Draco." Draco nodded and left. He always hated speaking to the Dark Lord. It most likely had to do with his flippancy towards murder. He trudged around Malfoy Manor vaguely wondering which would be the easiest to trick into coming with him. He decided to search for his aunt who had promised to teach him Apparation and think about his dreaded tasks later.

There was a knock on the bedroom door. Luna stood up and spun around giggling towards the door. She pulled it open to reveal her father in deep violet robes and his yellow hat. "How's the packing?" he asked.

"It's coming, but I can't find my lucky yarn bracelet. You don't suppose the nargles could have taken it?"

"They are nasty little things, aren't they? I wanted to give you something before you left." He produced an oddly colored onion-like thing from his pocket. Luna's eyes got bigger in wonder. "It's a gurdyroot, very good for warding off gulping plimpies."

"Thank you, Daddy!" She squealed and flung her arms around his neck.

"Your robes and books are on the sofa downstairs. So is the new issue of the _Quibbler_. The article you helped me write on the Rotfang Conspiracy is on page five. It's magnificent!" He pushed her away to arm's length, smiling widely. "I'm gonna miss you tomorrow. Now finish packing."

She ran downstairs to grab her things and noticed her bracelet hanging from the chandelier. She laughed and jumped again and again trying to collect her lost item. A little golden snake acting as a candle holder on the chandelier came to life. It retrieved the bracelet and dropped it down to her from its metal jaws. "Thank you," she called to it. She blew it a kiss right before it became still again.

She raced back up the stairs books in hand. She tucked them into the far corner of her trunk and then laid the gurdyroot delicately on top. She jumped onto her bed and curled up hugging her pillow. It took hours for her energy to fade enough to allow sleep. She spent the night having slightly unpleasant dreams about being late to her first class because her shoes wouldn't stay on her feet.

Luna flooed to the platform the next morning at ten thirty. She wanted to find a compartment that she could have to herself. She didn't really want to sit alone, but she knew the only people who wouldn't hassle her with questions about the Ministry would be the people who had been there with her. She had really liked being with the DA. Some of them like Neville and Harry had been nice enough not to call her names when she spoke of the creatures and conspiracies her father had uncovered. Sure they didn't believe any of it, and they laughed most of the time, but she felt almost included around them. Almost.

She located a car devoid of other students but not without first bumping into some people would have rather not seen. She had hid in the corner of a hall when Malfoy had walked through. A couple of third year Hufflepuffs poked their heads out as he passed. Their jeers were pretty cutting. He just continued walking by her hiding place with an expression she'd never seen on them before. She actually pitied him. He wasn't his father, after all.

Soon students were swarming. Everyone who ventured to peek inside her door quickly ducked out when they saw her behind the new issue of the _Quibbler_. Harry and Neville came in and sat down. They started talking about OWL results and Quidditch. The topics bored her immensely.

Around lunch time, Hermione and Ron turned up. They weren't the only ones. Almost as soon as they arrived so did a second year carrying two beribboned scrolls with he handed over to Harry and Neville. The two left to go meet someone named Slughorn. Ron and Hermione looked rather uncomfortable just sitting there. They left to get food leaving Luna alone. She sighed and sprawled out over the seat, promptly falling asleep.

She dreamed of sitting in a small pond with swirling, crystal clear water. The pool sat in the middle of an extensive field of bright white daisies. Clouds were proceeding forwards across the sky, darkening the flowers below them. The darkness didn't seem able to penetrate the water, rather it illuminated in the gloom. Then a man stepped to the edge of the shadows. He was tall and draped in black. His face was oddly serpentine with his flat nose and brilliantly red eyes. Luna dreamed she was staring at his eyes, marveling at their shade of scarlet.

She awoke when Ron, Hermione, and Neville returned. She heard them whisper worriedly over their missing comrade while the four of them pulled on their robes. She spent the carriage ride in contented bliss thinking about the beautiful daisies with shining red petals.

Chapter Two

Draco had a plan. Last year Montague had gotten stuck in the Vanishing Cabinet. He had said that sometimes he could hear what was happening in Hogwarts, but other times he could hear people talking in a shop clearly in Knocturn Alley. Draco thought it was fascinating; an unguarded exit to the school was impossible to come by. He had entertained the idea of fixing it so he could leave the castle whenever he pleased. Over the summer, he had been thinking of how the pleasure of the outside world would bring some relief to his sure to be stressful year. He had been completely overcome with his idiocy of wanting to leave the school through the cabinet when he realized he could bring people to the school with it. And surely the house elves would know where it had been moved.

Starting tomorrow he would have free periods during the time he would have otherwise spent on stupid subjects like Care for Magical Creatures or Divination had he not dropped them. He would have plenty of time to find and repair the broken cabinet. His more difficult task seemed much easier now as long as he didn't dwell on what he had to do after the school was swarmed with Death Eaters.

He rolled over on his side in his dormitory bed. His new task would be all about timing. He would have to wait for an opportunity to get one of them alone. He'd have to be able to take them outside the Hogwarts boundary without anyone noticing. That would be difficult. He mused that he could subdue one during a Hogsmeade visit, but he got the impression that the Dark Lord didn't wanted to wait until their first Hogsmeade visit in October to "interview" which poor student he chose. One of them would mess up and wander off alone.

But none of them really mattered much that minute. Right then he just wanted a night of undisturbed, peaceful sleep. He hadn't had that simple luxury for a long time. It was hard to sleep fitfully in the same house as the Dark Lord and his giant serpent. He just wanted to rest without nightmares about being tortured or killed. Or both. Or watching other peopled be tortured or killed. Or both. Lucky for him, he slept all through the night. But not without being awoken in the early morning by a bright flash or green light hitting him in the chest. But perhaps shaking and sweating and well rested was better than being shaken and sweating and not well rested.

That same night…

"Luna!" one of her dorm mates hissed at her. "Weren't you listening? Professor Dumbledore said not to leave our dormitories! Especially in the current state of things! Are you insane?!?!"

"No, I'm not insane. Being insane could be fun though," she replied as she leapt out of the portrait hole. She flitted behind a tapestry by the portrait and down the flight of stairs it concealed. In the Entrance Hall she swiftly ran behind the Slytherin hourglass. She took out her wand and drew the Slytherin emblem on a stone. The wall shimmered out of existence silently. She stepped outside into a beautiful panorama of stars and darkness. She was just around the corner from the main doors. She followed the shadows of the castle to the edge of the lake and then skipped along the lakeside, under the mountain, and to the boathouse.

All of the little rowboats that the first years had arrived in were floating in the rippling water. She carefully stepped on the nearest boat and then the next boat out and the next until she was on the foremost boat. She sat down on a damp wooden bench in it and untied the rope connecting it to the others. She tapped its side with her wand and it started its voyage to the middle of the vast lake.

She dragged her fingers lazily through the liquid shimmering with moonlight. The ripples moved out in elegant ovals and lines from the tips of her fingers. She watched some of the lines struggle to continue on their course against the current. The poor ripples just weren't strong enough. She wished to curse the current that kept on going whatever direction it pleased. It didn't seem to care how many defenseless little ripples it had to push out of its way to meet its meaningless objective of flowing forwards. She made as many ripples as she could, hoping they would band together and make a dent in the stupid, overbearing current. But they didn't seem to take her wishes to heart. The boat stopped.

She stood up and stripped off her robes. She had a pair of close-fitting pants and a t-shirt underneath that wouldn't weigh her down in the water. She cast a bubble head charm on herself then slid gracefully into the black abyss beneath her. Igniting her wand threw the tiny particles of algae suspended around into sharp relief. She giggled and swished her arms around making the algae swirl like a miniature whirlpool. She stopped, feeling too much likeness to the current disrupting everything in her path. She gave a quick apology to the algae and then swam downward in a rush of adrenaline and weightlessness.

She swam in contented bliss for two hours. She rushed back to the surface, bursting the bubble around her head on impact with the cool air. She clambered back into the boat and instructed it to return to the boathouse with her wand.

She deeply enjoyed these underwater excursions. They were good for relieving stress and repairing her sometimes broken spirit. She'd been close to panic since the feast started. She could hardly concentrate on Dumbledore's withered hand; she was much more concerned about his scarlet eyes. Padma and Terry had them too. Even the pudding had watched her with blazing sanguine eyes. They watched her in the common room. That's why she left. She knew in her mind they couldn't follow her into the water. She wasn't afraid of the eyes. She just didn't like them observing her.

She scrambled quickly and quietly back to her dormitory and fell into a much more relaxed sleep. She dreamed about palm trees and stars and awoke feeling like she was brave enough to take on Snape in a duel.

A/N: The disclaimer I forgot reads as such: *ahem hem hmm ahmm* Not mine. I put the first two chapters together so that the dropdown thingy would read 3. Chapter Three instead of 4. Chapter Three. That annoys me to no end. Review please. I'm going to start typing again now. Merry Christmas guys!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Luna was dressed before anyone in her dormitory was awake. She felt fantastic for someone running on four hours of sleep. She was the third person to arrive for breakfast behind a pale Slytherin second year and Professor Snape. She laughed when she remembered feeling good enough to take on the dark, mysterious teacher. One look at his face told today wasn't the best day to pester him. She just smiled and ate her pumpkin muffin.

People began pouring in after she took out her Transfiguration book. The bench filled up around her and tidal waves of chatter surrounded her. The girl who had tried to stop her last night continually shot her dirty looks while she talked excitedly to other fifth years about OWLs. Luna felt a small pang of guilt. The girl had never been the most outgoing and must have felt humiliated and angry after she had ignored her. She was one of the new prefects after all. People were supposed to listen to her now. She looked back at her book so as to avoid her glares. She turned the page and was met by a pair of brown eyes under a caption about changing eye color. To her sudden horror, the eyes turned a vivid shade of red. She dropped the book in surprise, but when she bent down to retrieve it, they were brown again.

She wondered why in the world she was seeing red eyes. No one had red eyes. She hoped she would have Divination the first day. Professor Trelawney could explain it. Speaking of classes, Professor Flitwick was moving along the table handing out schedules. She smiled brightly at him when he gave her her schedule. Today she had Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and (Yes!) Divination. But there was something wrong with her timetable. Under the word 'Divination' was a room number and the name 'Firenze'. She frowned, sulking for a moment. Firenze was a good teacher, but he wasn't very open to the possibility of the future. He thought everything was set in stone and that the stars could tell them everything. She shook her head. The stars would never change.

She got up from her place between two (in her opinion ditzy) girls intent on walking back to the Ravenclaw common room. They were talking while she walked away about Draco Malfoy and his father. Poor Draco. She loaded her bag with the books she needed and strode out to the greenhouses. She was still quite early, so she decided to take a stroll around the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Her journey took her behind Hagrid's Hut. He was standing in the garden behind his home attending to some large pumpkins. He waved cheerfully to her when she wandered by. She stopped her progress in a straight line and instead went to lean against a fence post around the garden.

"'Ey there there, Luna!" he greeted her.

"Hello, Professor."

"Ye have yer first lesson tomorrow, huh?" She nodded. "I have a great treat fer ye. I know yer awful fond of them threstrals in the forest. I was going ter show 'em to the fi'th years to start off the year with some excitement. Would ye like to come help me feed 'em before class?" She nodded again ecstatically.

"I need to get to class. Thank you. I'd really like that." She waved goodbye and headed back to Herbology.

"Blaise!" Draco shouted for the fifth time. "Okay fine, miss breakfast. Have fun figuring out your schedule!" he called over his shoulder to the mass still hiding under his covers as though time would roll back and give him more time to sleep. Zambini magicked the first heavy object he could he could find at him. It missed by several feet. Draco smirked. Blaise swore. Malfoy went down the stairs and was met by an entourage of females. He smirked at them. Some feigned swooning. Some giggled and batted their eyelashes. Two brave souls in the back just rolled their eyes and left the common room. Pansy leapt at him and hung onto his arm all the way to the Great Hall.

He scanned the Gryffindor table as they entered. He scowled when he saw both Longbottom and Weasley sitting right next to Potter. Potter looked up and Draco mimicked breaking his nose as he'd done on the train the day before. The Slytherins around him roared in laughter. When he passed the Ravenclaw table he noticed Lovegood was reading a book between two people obviously having a conversation around her. She really didn't have any friends. She would be easy to take. The girls by her sighed and giggled when they saw him watching.

He ate heartily and relished all the compliments Pansy showered over him. He hadn't felt this good all summer. Playing host to the Dark Lord was a very draining job. Professor Snape handed out their schedules at the end of the meal. He smiled at his first day. He had two free periods and two generally easy classes today. Blaise announced he was going back to sleep as the first free period was right after breakfast.

Draco decided to start following around his three targets. Longbottom went up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower, so he followed Weaselette. He was walking behind the two Ravenclaw girls that he had seen earlier. He caught the name Malfoy being whispered between them, but another word seemed to hang between them: Death Eater. He scowled and pushed his way past them. It wasn't like he wanted to be a Death Eater! He just didn't want everyone he had ever cared about dead!

He followed Weasley from a few meters. She was headed for the greenhouses. He then decided if he was really going to be a stalker, he'd do it right. He conjured a pen and parchment. He wrote down _Weaselette: Monday 1__st__- Herbology. Longbottom: Monday 1__st__- Free._ Yes, that was obviously going to be _so_ helpful later on. His sarcastic thoughts continued for a few moments. And just as the smallest inkling of panic about his mission began to paralyze his conscience, Luna Lovegood came into view.

She was skipping along the outer boundaries of the Black Forest, trailing her fingers through the protruding branches. "Where is Lovegood going," he wondered to himself. He ran to hide in front of Hagrid's Hut, seeing as it was the only cover between him and her. She was talking to the oaf, naturally. She liked the Care for Magical Creatures teacher just like the Gryffindor trio.

"… Yer awful fond of them threstrals in the forest. I was going ter show 'em to the fi'th years to start off the year with some excitement. Would ye like ter come help me feed 'em before class?"

"I need to get to class. Thank you. I'd really like that!" Then Lovegood started towards the greenhouses and Weasley who was standing by the door. Alright. _Loony: Monday 1__st__- Herbology. Tuesday breakfast- feeding threstrals with oaf._ "Way to go, Loony," he thought. "Do you usually leave meals early to wander around outside?" So Lovegood would be easiest. She wasn't regularly around Potter, and she didn't care that the teachers had asked everyone not to go wandering before or after hours.

The next day Draco didn't get the chance to trail Lovegood during breakfast, and he saw neither hide nor hair of her for the following three days. But he did see Weaselette walking down (sometimes crowded and sometimes deserted) corridors hand and hand with Dean Thomas. Meanwhile he watched Longbottom closely during Potions class. He did nothing interesting. Perhaps he should have been watching Potter instead to find out how he had cheated his way to winning the vial of Felix Felicius. He needed it more than Potter did. Potter didn't have half a dozen Death Eaters breathing down his neck.

He was also having some trouble locating the Vanishing Cabinet. A house elf told him it was in the Room of Requirement. He just couldn't quite figure out where in the room it was. Sometimes when he walked by the door it wouldn't open. Sometimes the door wouldn't appear. Sometimes it became a room filled with various different cabinets. Finally he tried finding a place where broken objects were put.

And the room became a haven for discarded and confiscated items. And there in the midst of it all was the Vanishing Cabinet.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I just noticed the places there were supposed to be breaks in the story didn't show up. I'll try something different this time. So if you were confused when the POVs changed. Sorry. And the thing with the newts is played off of Upton Sinclaire's The Jungle. The main character was thinking about hog heaven and their individuality while he was touring a slaughterhouse. It was gruesome and depressing.

Chapter Four

Luna was finding that Divination just wasn't quite as interesting with Firenze as the permanent teacher. He tried to break the future down into an exact science. Luna believed the possibilities for tomorrow were endless. He just didn't understand that the future is up to the people and not dependant on the brightness of Mars. She wanted very much to speak with Professor Trelawney. She was having dreams every night at the same time. She always woke up from the gaze of the man at 3:30 on the dot. It was strange.

The reptilian eyes followed her when she walked among the daisies. She tried talking to him, but he was unresponsive. It was odd how she could always tell she was dreaming when he was staring at her. It was odder still that he looked angry when she stared back. Did he expect her to ignore him?

While recurring dreams were intriguing, they didn't really worry her per se. Whoever the man was, he couldn't hurt her while she was sleeping. But those eyes scared her. Especially when Professor McGonagall's eyes suddenly turned scarlet when she turned her head too quickly. Or when the walls were watching her. Or when the snake on the Hogwarts emblem suddenly winked at her even though it had never moved before in her memory. Of course all of that was just a trick of the light. Her mind running away from her. It's just everything seemed more real while she was awake.

On Thursday during break she climbed the winding stairs up to the trapdoor of the Divination Tower. She knocked, and the seer's breathy voice invited her in. "Hello Professor."

"Why Miss Lovegood, I was expecting you sooner. I had a feeling you wanted to talk, but why weren't you in class?"

"My class is being taught by Firenze." Luna kept all distaste for his lack of open-mindedness out of her voice, but the sentence seemed less dreamlike than usual.

"Ahh," Trelawney snorted, "the nag—or rather the umm centaur. Well dear, what did you wish to speak about?"

"Well I was hoping you could me interpret a dream. I tried consulting the book, but—"

"Books are so imprecise. Come dear, describe what you've seen."

"I'm sitting in a pool of water in a field of bright white daisies." Luna's excitement grew as talked about the approaching darkness that split her flowered meadow in two. Then she spoke of the man, tall and daunting, intimidating in the way he watched her, easily angered by her persistence to coax some words from him. She began on his appearance: the flat nose, the bald head, and the eyes. Eyes.

Trelawney gasped, breaking Luna's memory of the way he watched her during her waking hours. "My dear girl, do you not know who you've described?" She shook her head. The seer had seen his face on the front of the Daily Prophet just after the Ministry incident. But Luna paid no mind to world outside her bubble. She had no idea. But it must have been him. Who else had a face like a snake? "But why ever are you dreaming of him, especially in the circumstances you described," she trailed off at the end, shocked.

"Who is it, Professor?" she asked eagerly.

She hugged her shawls more tightly around her torso. "The Dark Lord," she stammered.

Luna wasn't sure how to respond. She hadn't expected that. They sat together in silence for ten minutes or so. It was just some kind of posttraumatic stress. That was all. She had stood and fought in the same building as him only months ago. But the both of them sat in confused silence nonetheless. How could she not have realized that she spent every single night being scrutinized by a representation of the most widely known dark wizard?

The bell for class rang. She drifted down the circular tower slightly dazed. She didn't particularly care that she was going to be really late for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Snape couldn't hurt her while she was locked up in her mind. The eyes watching her around every corner: she wasn't so sure about them.

() ()

"That's Draco Malfoy. His father was at the Ministry." Pause. "No, not with Harry. He was one of the Death Eaters, got himself locked up in Azkaban."

"How humiliating: losing to a bunch of fifth and forth years."

"The Order was there, too."

"Yeah, but not until later."

"He's probably happy to be there." Several snorts. "I mean You-Know-Who can't be too happy with him." Murmurs.

Maybe this is a good thing. Now Draco is probably grieving. You know, a shoulder to cry on, someone to lean on." Giggles.

"Yes. He must need a little pick-me-up. Aren't I glad I'm single." Groans.

"No fair! I'd ditch Evan in a heartbeat to get a piece of that."

"Guys, aren't you forgetting something?" Pause. "Do I have to give you the list?" Another pause. "Okay, number one: he's Malfoy. Two: he's a jerk. Three: he's a Slytherin. Four: none of you are Slytherins. And five: he probably wants to be left alone. And of course, number six: he can most likely hear us right now."

The creak of two chairs. Voices lowered. "Nah, he's reading."

"Leave it to the Ravenclaw to ruin the mood."  
"Seriously guys, we should be studying for this Charms test. Not ogling Draco Malfoy!" Groans. Whines and complaints. A book snapping shut. "Fine study by yourselves." Running steps.

"Okay, but seriously, his butt looks great from this angle." Giggles.

He wasn't even safe in the library anymore. He still acted like he owned the castle. He bullied younger students. His smirk still made Pansy melt and every Gryffindor in the general vicinity roll their eyes. So why was he suddenly being pitied and ogled by strange girls from other houses? And why were first years suddenly talking back? He knew it had a lot to do with his father becoming Azkaban's newest inmate. Really, why did he have to be caught? Why didn't he flee like Aunt Bella? It was his father's fault he stuck doing the impossible! Kill Dumbledore! KILL DUMBLEDORE! The Dark Lord himself couldn't kill Dumbledore. How could he?

His fingers clenched onto the table as his fury rose. Meanwhile the girls behind him were discussing methods of seducing him. Their voices where clawing at his insides. The longer he sat still, the more raw energy fueled by his anger seemed to build and compress tightly into the depths of his muscles. His body shook violently, trying to release the energy.

The conversation behind him turned back to his father. He snapped. He stood up and drew his wand on them. The giggling stopped. Thank God! It stopped! But his mind was still racing, and the sudden silence annoyed him as much as their talking. He threw a spell at the nearest bookshelf. The books rose up and swarmed the girls who shrieked and ducked under the table.

Draco grabbed his bag and stalked out. However, Filch was waiting outside. He smiled wickedly, and Draco had no choice but to follow the caretaker to his office.

Detention? They'd been in school for less than a week, and he already had detention! At least he wasn't the only one, but apparently he made the first ten. Thinking back, Potter and Weasley probably held the record for earliest detention. They did crash a car into the Whomping Willow four years ago. You'd have to wake up pretty early to beat that. Regardless, why did it have to be with Snape? Snape was practically stalking him trying to get answers about his mission. He wasn't the only one with Snape though, so they wouldn't have a chance to play twenty questions.

() ()

Snape had been in a particularly bad mood when Luna had entered the DADA room fifteen minutes late. He had yelled at her for disrupting class, and she had stared back innocently. Something about her innocent expression had seemingly annoyed him, and she received detention for Saturday night.

Saturday Night Detention

Luna walked down to the dungeons quickly and quietly. She was quite happy for a reason to leave dinner early. She didn't enjoy being talked about as though she was invisible. Staring dreamily at one's tomato soup didn't cut off the rest of one's senses. She sighed unhappily outside of the potion's office upon remembering her housemates' unnecessary harsh gossip.

() ()

Was it just him or did Loony look upset? How odd. She didn't look remotely worried while she and her annoying friends were being held in Umbridge's office last year. Snape couldn't even faze her. Oh well, maybe a depressed Loon would make detention easier than a happy Loon. Wait. He had detention with Lovegood? Could it really be that simple? Snape would keep them past midnight for sure. It would be dark, and the two of them would be alone when they left. It was too easy.

Draco entered just after Luna. Snape told them they would be sorting out the good and bad rat spleens. Despite the fact that Snape was now the Defense teacher, he still had barrels of rat spleens in his possession. That's morbid. How do you tell if a rat spleen has gone bad anyways?

"The bad ones turn yellow," Luna answered his unspoken query.

Draco was going to retort something but stopped himself half way through the first word. He should be nice to her. It would be a whole lot easier for him if she left the castle willingly. Dragging an unconscious body through the front doors was a sure fire way to get caught.

() ()

Professor Snape still had the same office. It was dark and lifeless. He was grading papers. The background framing him in his seat was a collection of jars on an array of shelves. Just above his right ear was a pair of small red eyes encased in a milky liquid. They floated there, watching her progress. Always watching her.

"So are you going to help with these, or are you just going to keep staring at the wall?" Malfoy sounded irritated.

"The eyes," she stated vaguely.

"Right…" They went about sorting the spleens, trying only to touch them with the tips of their fingers. Then they moved on to newt eyes. The eyes were small and jelly-like. They were sightless and impressed a sense of loss upon those who looked into them. The newts would never live again, and they sure couldn't see now in their heaven of small lizards. Every eye was different. Some of them were perfect spheres; some were squished in from age. Some were glassy and far away, as though they had spent most of their time in a happy fantasy world, like Luna seemed to be. Others were milky as though they'd been blind, like they'd never seen death coming before they were harvested for potion's ingredients. But the most easily determined differences were the delicate shades of bespeckled color that encompassed the empty pupils. They varied from light grey to deep phoenix gold. Every time Luna plunged her had in to grab another handful, the majority were always red.

The two of them were released with the chiming of the midnight bell. Snape's office was in the dungeons, so Draco was slightly panicking on a reason to follow Lovegood upstairs. He'd just continued walking in the mean time. And then his stomach growled, and inspiration struck.

"Isn't your dormitory downstairs?" she asked as she jumped every other step.

"I'm hungry. What's it to you?" he sneered. He really only needed to get her to the Entrance Hall.

"Oh. I was going to the kitchens too. I feed the threstrals on Saturday. A bunch of Teragonts have moved into the forests. They eat all of the small creatures the threstrals would normally eat. They aren't very confrontational. They just let the new creatures eat everything. Especially the young threstrals, they can barely hunt to begin with," she said it all getting angrier and sadder with each word.

"Threstrals." Unbelievable. She was going into the Forbidden Forest.

"Would you like to come with me?" She had stopped walking and her eyes were twinkling into his.

"He shrugged nonchalantly and mumbled a "Yeah sure." So they went to the kitchens were the overexcited house elves attempted to load them down with cauldron cakes before they could leave with the sack of raw meat. Then they slipped out of the castle the same way Luna had left the last time while Malfoy muttered darkly about only Slytherins using the passage.

They followed the shadows of the castle and then the lake to the trees' edge. Luna led them deep through a mass of leaves and branches, not even bothering to remove her wand from behind her ear. Draco, on the hand, pointed his wand at everything that made noise.

The fear was beginning to set in. It was one thing to plan ways to kidnap a fellow student, something else entirely to do it. He was terrified and edgy and seriously thinking about feeding the giant horse-things and getting out of there.

Luna was humming, a chilling high-pitched tune. It was eerie and melancholy and reverberated off every tree they passed. That combined with the half-moonlight pouring through the trees gave the illusion that she was ghost flitting between the trees. A ghost is all she would be if he took her. No! No! No… that's what his parents and he would be if he didn't take her to his home.

"Here's good I think." She spoke it quietly, but he still jumped at the sound. She began to open the bag. Draco aimed his hawthorn wand at her back and sent a whispered Stunning Spell while she started humming again.

She dropped the sack of meat and collapsed fluidly to the ground. Draco bit back a sudden outset of nausea and levitated her out of the forest. _Coward. Attacking a girl from behind and dragging her through a forest._ He set her gently on the ground. Pulling back his left sleeve revealed the delicate ink lines that formed the ominous tattoo upon his skin. It was a skull and a snake like everyone else had. The bone structure was as white as his skin except for the slitted, empty eye sockets and the open mouth from which protruded the great writhing serpent. He touched his wand tip to the center of the skull and Apparated himself and the unmoving blonde Ravenclaw to the house of his parents.

A/N: Good news. I originally typed most of the next chapter instead of writing it! I really really really hate typing.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This chapter is why the story is very not canon. And he can apparate because they left the school grounds through the forest.

Luna was stunned with her eyes closed. For this, she was thankful. With her eyes closed no one could tell how terrified she was. He Apparated them away from the school grounds into the unknown. Having no way to know Draco's motives for taking her increased her anxiety to a whole new level.

The place he brought her was cold. She heard his footsteps echoing around her and nothing else. He stopped and dropped her to the floor. She felt the spell lift with hearing a sound. Time was all it took to regain composure, so she looked up at him with a curiosity she couldn't feel, leaving the fear hidden only in her twisting stomach. He had his weapon trained on her when he gestured for her to stand up. She rose gracefully, ignoring the wand, and instead gazing at the crystal chandelier hanging above. Everything in the hall was expensive-looking and extravagant. He gestured again, this time to the huge wooden doors they were standing next to. His hand shook.

Luna shoved open the heavy doors and strode inside. There were a few paintings on the walls and some chairs in the right corner. But the most important things in the room were meant to be the dim fire in the grate and the wing-backed armchair facing it.

Luna was thrown onto the elaborate rug at the feet of the armchair. Draco knelt beside her, eyes always on the floor. "M'lord, this is Luna Lovegood, one of Potter's friends that participated in the Ministry incident." His voice shook ever so slightly. Voldemort motioned for him to stand. He scrambled to his feet quickly to move out of the way. His eyes never left the patterns of the expensive carpet.

Luna wasn't sure what to do. She wanted the courage to look the Dark Lord in the face. After all, he could smell fear, couldn't he? He preyed on weaknesses. 'Be the person you are for Neville and Harry,' she thought, 'The person who could stand there calmly with a Death Eater's wand pressed to your throat.' She breathed out slowly and lifted her head to smile at the most fearsome man currently on the Earth. His eyes were much redder in person.

"Hello, Miss Lovegood," he spoke quietly to the cross-legged girl smiling up at him with serene curiosity.

"Hello," she answered.

"Do you know why I have asked Draco to bring you here?"

"No. I wasn't really expecting to come here at all. I thought we were going to feed the threstrals. I suppose it has something to do with the Ministry." She was trying desperately not to babble more than she usually did.

"Yes, the Ministry. There are just a few things I wanted to clear up about that night."

"Oh, like what?" _Don't ask me anything about Harry. I won't answer. I don't betray my friends._

"Like what you were doing in London when you should have been in school."

"Harry said that his godfather was in trouble, so we went to rescue him."

"None of you thought to bring along one of the Order members teaching there?"

"Well, Dumbledore wasn't there; Harry doesn't really trust Professor Snape very much, and after we were captured by Umbridge we didn't really have time to--"

"What gave Potter the idea that his godfather was in the Department of Mysteries?"

"I don't know really; I didn't--"

"Are you sure you don't know?"

"I didn't ask."

"Are you so ready and willing to trust him on blind faith alone?"

"I wouldn't call it blind faith at all. He's a good person."

He was angry now. Everything he did was so controlled. He was holding back his frustration in the face of an enemy. Perhaps there was a reason to be found that she could walk away from this unharmed. "Yes, Potter does seem to be the universal savior, doesn't he? What happened after you reached the Hall of Prophecies?"

"Well Sirius wasn't there, and we were going to leave, but the Death Eaters showed up and we had to fight them because they were all very excited at the prospect of capturing Harry." _He wants to know about the orb with his and Harry's names on it._

"Is that all?" Luna nodded. "You wouldn't lie to Lord Voldemort, would you?" The venom in his voice made her muscles seize up. Never were there more menacing words spoken. She was definitely not getting out of here unharmed. She failed to keep the innocence plastered to her face as an involuntary shock ran up her spine. "Because, you see, one of my Death Eaters said that he saw all of you crowded around a shelf looking at something." There was no way he wasn't talking about the prophecy. And there was no way she could feign ignorance without being killed.

One thought broke through her mind. _I never heard what it said; no one did._ She wasn't sure if that would save her or condemn her.

"Oh yes, the prophecy. It had Harry's name on it. Is that what they came for?" she asked.

Ignoring her question, he asked another. "Do you know what that prophecy says?" He asked as if he already knew the answer to his query. Perhaps someone did hear it.

"No, it broke during the fight."

He looked contemplative for a moment or two. "I believe that's all," he told her.

Luna was confused. No torture? No, that wasn't it. He said they were finished talking, not that she was free to go on her merry way. Being at a loss for a polite way to ask if she was aloud to live another day, she decided to be blunt. "Good. May I go then?"

"Not just yet, Miss Lovegood. I told you: No one lies to Lord Voldemort. Crucio."

The curse attacked her nerve endings. The sensation was spreading from her insides out. It was so unexpected that, try as she might, she just couldn't contain her reaction. She burst out in furious giggles. It was impossible to stop, as anyone who had ever been ferociously tickled from the inside out would know. Maybe she heard the curse wrong. Admittedly the inability to breathe was painful, but she had always imagined a kind of stabbing sensation as opposed to this. She couldn't keep her eyes open to watch her assailant. That was definitely unfortunate. What if he tried something else? Then what would she do?

() ()

Draco stood back frozen from fear. He hadn't expected to be mercilessly assaulted with guilt after he had stepped out from between the crazy girl and the Dark Lord. What had he been thinking? He'd been thinking 'would I like to die in a few weeks or a year.' Yeah, that's what he had been thinking. But was the guilt bad enough to make him intervene? No, it never would be. Because Loony Lovegood would smile at the Dark Lord, and he would do anything to keep his miserable life going. She was smiling, wasn't she? Perhaps it was a good thing he chose Lovegood. Weaselette would have tried to fight him and probably would've been killed. She still had her wand tucked behind her ear and hadn't made any attempts so far to retrieve it.

"I believe that's all." The words startled him. He hadn't heard any of the conversation until then. Unusual, no torture?

"Good. May I go then?"

"Not just yet, Miss Lovegood. I told you: No one lies to Lord Voldemort. Crucio."

Draco watched slightly horrified as his classmate was tortured. She looked like she was ready to burst from the strain. Until she started laughing. And rolling on the floor clutching her chest. She started gasping for breath, but the laughter didn't stop.

Her wand dislodged from her ear and rolled towards him. He looked at his master who was facing away from him. Then he tiptoed forward a few steps and put her wand safely in his pocket. He returned to the wall, acting as though he hadn't moved. Then above the ever growing giggles he heard the strange hissing sounds of Parseltongue, and the Dark Lord's snake wound its way to its master's side.

() ()

He was speaking again. She could barely hear over her own outburst that wouldn't leave even though the curse had been lifted. She held her breath for a few seconds so as to catch the end of his sentence. _–here. Our guest seems to think something is funny._

In from the oak doors came Voldemort's giant serpent. She wound herself into a coil at his feet, hissing softly. _Asphyxiate her, but don't kill her. She has to go back relatively unharmed, so not around the neck._ Nagini nodded her understanding, and began to wrap herself around the girl's torso. The pain on Luna's chest was dull and uncomfortable. She didn't like it much, so she hissed at the snake to stop.

One could have heard Malfoy's jaw drop across the room. Of course, no one was paying much attention to him. Nagini loosened her grip on the blonde. All three were watching Voldemort, wanting to know his reaction.

_How do you speak it?_ he shot at her.

_I think I inherited it from my mum. She never told me if she could speak in Parseltongue, but she had a pet snake. _Her face was blank except for the shadow of worry in her eyes.

"Draco." At the Dark Lord's call Malfoy rushed forwards. "Take Miss Lovegood back to school."

Draco nodded and started pulling Luna to her feet. Then Voldemort turned back towards them. "One last thing. Obliviate."

Luna wasn't entirely sure what kind of luck had made him too shocked to perform the spell correctly. She acted like she'd just had her mind erased. Her out-of-focused eyes looked more dazed than usual, and she relaxed the muscles in her shoulders and legs.

Then she was standing in the hallway, most of her weight being supported by Draco Malfoy. Playing along with the spell, she looked about curiously, then at Draco. "Oh hello, Draco. Where are we? I thought we were going to feed the thestrals."

"I'm bloody well not going to feed anything with you, Loony. You grabbed onto me while I was Apparating to my home." He Apparated them back to Hogsmead. Together they walked (and skipped) back up to the castle with never a word about Malfoy Manor.

A/N: The next chapter is really short, but very important. It's also the last one I have written. So updating is going to get very slow. Sorry.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Two months passed. Luna spoke not a word about Lord Voldemort to anyone. She tried. She tried so hard, but her tongue refused to let slip any details about the night after her detention. She put up a front around everybody just like always. But it was harder. The Order needed to know where he was. But instead of spluttering for several minutes in front of Professor McGonagall or Harry again she made a strong attempt to pretend that she hadn't been seen by his awful eyes. In the flesh.

It wasn't working. She broke down sometimes. She shed more than a few tears in Myrtle's bathroom. No one could her over the ghost's wails. Maybe one of her dorm mates heard her sob in the middle of the night. If they did, they didn't say. Everyone remained oblivious to the trepidation that held on steadfastly to her.

That's not entirely true. Ginny thought she wasn't talking quite as much. Neville asked her every day to tell about some strange creature or conspiracy just to hear her voice inflected with some kind of exuberant happiness. Draco Malfoy looked pale and sick every time he saw her. That wasn't saying much. He looked like a dying phoenix unable to burst into flames. Luna wasn't sure what to think of him anymore. Fear or disappointment? Pity? His life must have been on the line to take her there. Right? He wasn't cruel enough to want to serve Voldemort. Absolutely. Malfoy wasn't that far gone.

Luna was drifting to sleep again, silently anticipating the presence of the terrible snakeman. Yes, anticipating. He was there every single night. At least she was too busy being angry at the silent figment of her mind to have nightmares about the Ministry.

Luna awoke on the floor of the Room of Requirement. Colin Creevey was standing over her looking simultaneously concerned and thrilled.

"It worked! Yes!"

Harry came up and clapped him on the back. "Good job, Colin. Need some help, Luna?" Luna grabbed his proffered hand, and he hoisted her up. Her velocity led her to collide into him.

"Oh, sorry," she said. Harry had his arm around her waist to prevent her from falling over again. But he didn't let go of her. They were awfully close. She tried to take a step back, but she couldn't move. "Why don't you stay here a while, Luna."

"Harry?" What was going on? Where did Colin go? His hands were drifting over her back. "Harry." Fear gripped her stomach. His expression looked malicious. This wasn't Harry. "Harry," she spoke firmly.

TOO FAR DOWN HER BACK!

She gave a terrified squeal and stepped hard on his foot. He let go of her, and she took off running. The room morphed into a hallway. She sprinted haphazardly through the corridor maze. Throwing terrified glances over her shoulder showed Harry was hot on her heels.

There was a flight of stairs up ahead. She flew down them at a shocking rate. She looked behind her again. He was still coming. Her sides hurt. Ow! She collided into something. She looked up, and to her horror she realized she had run right into Lord Voldemort. She turned and took off faster than ever. But he kept reappearing in front of her.

Harry had drawn his wand. He was shouting curses. She rounded another corner. DEAD END! She whipped around, back flat against the wall. Voldemort stood next to her. He pointed his finger at Harry. Harry crumpled to the floor screaming and shaking. Luna watched him suffer for a long moment, both mortified and relieved. Then he stopped moving.

Luna stared at his limp body, meanwhile feeling a pair of familiar eyes boring into her head. She ggazed up at his face. He saved her. But his eyes were as cold as always. Voldemort raised his hand. His finger touched her cheek.

She jerked awake, drenched in sweat and hyperventilating. She glanced out the window across from her bed. Pitch black. It didn't matter. She ran with wild panic out of the Ravenclaw common room and ascended to the seventh floor. She threw open the door to the Room of Requirement. A field of daisies stretched out before her. With tears streaming relentlessly down her face, she dove down deep into the pool of water. The clouds slowly crept up above. And the shadows overtook the water.

(()) (())

Voldemort stood contemplating the mantelpiece. A real dream for once. The flowers had become wearisome. The first real dream and she had been running from Harry Potter. The fear she hadn't shown him, she displayed for Harry Potter. So unusual. He didn't even bother looking into Ginevra's dream that night. He was preoccupied with coercing Luna Lovegood into his good graces.

A/N: This is really short, but really important. I think the next time after chapter seven I'm going to have Draco's POV will be when I catch up to the intro.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Draco was giving up. Months of research and futile attempts of repairing were getting him nowhere fast. Things were falling apart quicker than he could process. The Dark Lord hadn't seemed upset or surprised he was getting nowhere. Luna Lovegood had sated his master's thirst for results. DANG IT! LUNA LOVEGOOD! He was always thinking about Luna Lovegood.

Looney who had laughed at torture— during torture, who had spoken outright to the Dark Lord's snake, who (from all known precedent) should have died on the spot after the first giggle! Nobody was reckless enough to tempt fate that many times in a span of ten minutes. The girl was suicidal, brought on by a crazy imagination and lack of real friends. That was it. She was asking to be grievously injured.

But still the guilt was incomprehensible. She had left there perfectly unscathed and none the wiser that anything had happened at all. She was fine. The other two people he had been stalking were fine. Everybody was just fantastic! And yet…

Well, he was far from fine. He was going to die before the end of the year, and the stupid cabinet wasn't helping him any. New frustration and fear settled into his brain every day. He never went outside. He stopped acknowledging people unless they had a legitimate reason to speak to him. He had accepted his inevitable destruction. Maybe Lovegood wasn't the one with the death wish.

People were noticing. Before now he had never really understood how much Pansy Parkinson cared about him. She was always watching him with worry etched in her eyes, innate in the tears that spawned there. But she never cried while anyone else was looking. She was good at guarding secrets.

Potter noticed, too. Sneaking off during the Quidditch match had been so incredibly thick. He was always being given suspicious glances by the Trio's leader. He didn't need anymore interference! That goes for Snape as well, always sticking his abnormally large nose in his business.

The stress was tearing him apart inside. He was becoming desperate. He had put Madame Rosemerta under the Imperius Curse. She bought a cursed necklace two days ago. It was a big ornate opal that had already killed several muggles. If Dumbledore would only just unwrap it…

Draco dropped his head into his hands, pleading for a swift and simple solution to the hopeless, desperate problem weighing down on him. Just something to numb the headaches and the nauseous guilt. Why was there nothing?

He stood and stumbled his way to the dungeons. His head was so heavy by the time he reached the common room that he couldn't make the walk up to his dormitory. So he slept on the landing half way up the stairs. The stone was cold and soothing. He stayed there all night, no dreams and no coherent thoughts for a few content hours.

(-) (-)

It was a fluke. Voldemort wouldn't save her; Harry would save her. She was just overly anxious with her mind being stretched so thin for midterms. It was a figment of her imagination. Harry was… is the good guy. Still she'd feel better after another visit with Professor Trelawney.

"Come in, Miss Lovegood," she voiced airily from beyond the trapdoor.

Luna knew better by now than to ask how she knew who was entering her mystic realm of a classroom. "Good evening, Professor."

"Something's been troubling you for awhile, has it?"

"Yes," she agreed.

"That dream of yours still?" Luna nodded despairingly. "You know, I had a most odd vision last night. It was about you and Mr. Potter. The two of you were playing tug-of-war with a snake. Is there something else?" The seer's eyes appeared glazed over in concentration.

"I wish I could tell you. Every time I try to speak, I fail. My voice stops working, and I have trouble thinking."

"Well that would account for all of this dratted fog." Trelawney swatted the air in front of her face to ward off the invisible clouds. But the fog must have been too thick. "Don't worry too much, dear. There's still a path out of it. You're a bright girl. You'll find it. Patience, dear. Patience."

"Professor, why was I fighting with Harry?"

"The snake was attacking students."

"But that doesn't explain why we—"

Professor Trelawney had slumped over in her arm chair. She abruptly began snoring. Luna attempted to awaken her by means of consistent prodding to no avail. She descended the tower, feeling Trelawney's fog drifting in and around her head thick and heavy. How disorienting. How unhelpful.

(-) (-)

Draco just got back from his detention with Professor McGonagall when he heard the news. While his classmates had been having a merry time in Hogsmeade, someone had gotten cursed. Katie Bell had been lifted into the air and started screaming in pain. And the Golden Trio had found an opal necklace on the ground beneath her.

He no longer had a fighting chance. Dumbledore would know. He always knows. He had to get out of the school before the headmaster could catch him. He'd be sent to Azkaban with his father. Draco was walking through a second floor corridor. The second he saw Professor Snape round the corner looking terrifyingly livid, Draco dashed through the nearest door he could find.

He magically sealed the door, just waiting for Snape to come and blast it off its hinges. His footsteps continued right past the door. Draco slid to the floor against the door, head resting on his knees. He'd just have to hide for a bit.

"WHAT are you doing here!" an agonizing shriek belted at him. Draco jumped to his feet, training his wand on the floating figure of a small Hogwarts girl. "This is my bathroom! Go away!"

There's really not much to be said when one suddenly realizes that they're standing in a girl's toilet at the exact worst time to have a crazed ghost yelling at them. So Draco simply yelled back, "I don't see your name on it. And shut up. Your complaints are giving me headaches."

"Ohhhhh, you're getting headaches. Why didn't you say so?" she replied sarcastically. "You're right _I_ should shut up. Because all of the _boys_ who see the need to come traipsing through the GIRL'S bathroom would never presume to give a poor ghost a headache!!!"

"You're dead. You can't feel pain. Now why don't you leave me alone!"

The girl let out an incensed wail that didn't sound so much like real words before flying mere inches from Draco's face and screaming, "Sure! Let's throw things at Myrtle because she can't feel it! Five points if it goes through her stomach! Ten points if it goes through her head!" She thrust her fist through his abdomen and between his eyes.

"Who's throwing things, you insolent ghoul?"

"You're throwing words at me! I have feelings, you know. I didn't lose those too when I died," she sniffed. "You're just like all of the other men who come," she continued to herself. "Always promising they'll come back. But no one has time for poor miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle. No, she should have just vanished when she was killed fifty years ago…"

She continued on and on while she circled above the stalls. Draco had his ear against the door to make sure no one had coming running at the sound of Myrtle's tirade. Still what better place could be found to hide from the headmaster until it was dark enough to run for it?

_Hour One_

"Didn't I tell you to leave a while ago?"

"I'm not leaving. Get over it."

_Hour Three_

"How did you die any way?"

"Oh, it was dreadful. It happened in this very cubicle. You see, I was crying because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. Then someone came in."

"Who?"

"I don't know! Why does everyone want to know who came in just as I died? He didn't kill me. He was just a nuisance who interrupted me when I was crying."

"Fine."

"Anyways, I realized it was a boy speaking, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away. Then… I died."

"That's it. You died."

"I just remember seeing a pair of great big yellow eyes over there by that sink."

"I know who killed you." Myrtle stared back hardly interested. "It was the Dark Lord. He was the heir of Slytherin. You were killed by his basilisk. It's dead now."

"Yes. I heard Harry killed it."

"Yep. He killed it. Stabbed it straight through with Gryffindor's sword."

_Hour Six_

"Was it painful?"

"What when I fell from heaven?" she giggled.

"Dying?"

"Why? Thinking of joining me here for awhile? For…ever?"

"No! I just don't think I'm going to have much say in the matter very soon."

"Well if you die soon, you're welcome to share my toilet. I have the whole pipes to myself, and it gets awfully lonely."

"It's lonely outside of the plumbing, too."

_Hour Seven and a Half_

"I'm leaving now. I probably won't see you later. Goodbye, Myrtle."

"Goodbye, Draco." He left the bathroom and snuck down to the Entrance Hall. He stood behind the Slytherin hourglass staring at the wall that would let him escape Hogwarts. But it didn't seem anyone had been looking for him. Maybe they didn't know. They would assume it was a Death Eater not a student. But it's quite possible he really just didn't want to leave Hogwarts.

A/N: Almost everything Myrtle said was quoted from the 2nd movie. The next chapter has neither Draco nor Luna in it. So he's just going to have to keep staring at that wall and humming Faron Young songs for the next chapter. And she's going to have to keep staring at so pretty daisies.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Let's begin this chapter with Lavender Brown, shall we? This is so horribly cliché, but it helps my plot development. Terribly sorry about the promptness (or lack there of) for this chapter. My mind has been elsewhere. And what an excellent elsewhere it is.

Chapter Eight

Lavender Brown wasn't quite so thrilled to have Trelawney as her teacher. Firenze had this kind of supernatural presence about him. He had a soothing voice. And they spent entire classes stargazing. But the sixth years and seventh years had Professor Trelawney so that they could be adequately prepared for their NEWTs. And she was bitter about it.

Still, she and Parvati Patil emerged into the foggy room every Friday to stare at smoke or tea leaves or whatever else their teacher wished them to contemplate. On this particularly snowy afternoon they were recanting dreams for interpretation once again.

"Last night I dreamt that I was on a cruise ship surrounded by tropical islands," Lavender began. "I was gambling some place we had docked. Then I remember running from something. I jumped off a really high cliff and landed perfectly on my feet. I can't really remember anything else."

"Well," Parvati replied, "Islands signify the need to relax. Gambling means risky behavior. And jumping off a cliff signifies the need to take chances. I think you were really having a dream about your next date with Mr. Weasley." The two of them giggled. "Are you sure Ron wasn't the one chasing you? Because it's not too hard to interpret that one."

"Maybe that's just it." She winked and the two burst out in laughter again. "Okay, your turn."

"Mine wasn't pleasant." She winced. "I was in a house half submerged in water. I was thinking 'Play dead, maybe he won't notice me.' I floated on my back towards the sofa. A man was laying on it, and he started hitting me in the stomach as soon as I came within arm's reach. I couldn't breathe. The next thing I know there's no water, and I'm staring at a muggle dishwasher. But there are pounds of butter on the dishes. The smell was making me nauseous."

"Drowning means overwhelmed by emotions. Butter's supposed to mean gratification somewhere in your life. Put them in the same dream and you might just need some psychiatric help."

"That butter did not feel gratifying."

"Is it time for lunch yet?"

"No, we got here fifteen minutes ago."

"That's too bad," Lavender yawned. "I'm getting tired. I'm just going to get some more material to interpret. Wake me up for food."

… … … …

"Miss Brown. Miss Brown, the rest of the class has already left."

"What?" Lavender jumped as her professor shook her shoulder.

"THE DRAGON!" Trelawney gasped.

"Huh?"

"HE SHALL PLUMMET FROM HIS GREAT HEIGHT DURING THE FIRST RISE AND FALL OF THE MOON! HE SHALL BRING ABOUT CHAOS AND CONFUSION TO THOSE WHO SEEK CHAOS! The dragon…" Trelawney choked a little on the last word and then continue on from her previous statement. "My dear you're going to be late for lunch. I have another class to prepare for." And she shooed a spluttering, speechless Lavender out of the room.

… … … …

"Hi there, Ron." She smiled and waved vigorously to him.

"'ello, Lav'ner!" Ron replied, mouth stuffed with food (as always).

"Okay, the weirdest thing happened at the end of Divination. Professor Trelawney had just dismissed the class, and then she grabbed my shoulder and started gasping like she couldn't breathe. She was almost convulsing. Then she started yelling. I think it was a serious prediction. I mean, it doesn't take that kind of energy to predict that someone's going to break a teacup, but this was like really freaky. It must have been really, really, really important."

"I'm sorry, Lav, but I think I should tell you something." Ron leaned forward as though he were about to divulge some great secret. "She's not a real seer."

"She is too! You didn't see it! She was—"

"What did she say?" Harry entered the conversation.

"She said, 'The dragon will plummet from a height during the first rise and fall of the first moon.' Or something like that. Then she said he would 'bring chaos and confusion to those who seek chaos.'"

"The dragon?"

"Come on, Harry. It doesn't mean anything."

"Yes, it does!" Lavender squealed.

"Umm… I think we should go to class." Harry and Ron departed for the Transfiguration room.

… … … …

"The dragon," Harry mused under his breath. Well, that really only sounded like one person he knew. Draco. Draco meant dragon. The rise and fall of a moon would be a new moon to a full moon and back again. One lunar cycle. That's like a month. Chaos to those who seek chaos? Who seeks chaos?

… … … …

Harry spent days puzzling over the prophecy, obsessing as was his tendency to do. Day three he had a most brilliant thought. What if Malfoy brought chaos to the Death Eaters? It seemed so entirely unlikely. Draco_ was _a Death Eater. He knew it. He must be. But it was insane. Half of the Death Eaters were his relatives. Oh but if Draco were to fall… was it not possible he could take the whole house of cards with him?

Harry didn't see Luna for a week. Imagine the shock that all but punched him in the gut when he saw the moon dancing through the empty corridors. Imagine he fear as he watched with the same eyes that scrutinized Malfoy.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Okay so my ability to write swiftly is becoming less and less with less to show for it. I'm **really** sorry about that. I hope that you can forgive me and in the mean time have a nice time in Luna's head.

Chapter Nine

She sat in her little pool watching ripples undulate away. Stealing glances to the shadows forced her into a wild insanity. He didn't blink or look away. Ever. He was a statue wearing a cloak that billowed without wind. The silence was awkward to her. Her ambivalent confusion stemmed from the role reversal between dreams and reality. The silence became more uncomfortable as it approached infinity.

"I know who you are," Luna startled herself by speaking. "I saw you at Malfoy Manor." Ha! He blinked. "Would you like to sit?"

"… …"

"You always stand. It must be uncomfortable." She gestured to a chair by the water's edge that hadn't been there a second before. If Voldemort had bothered to look, he would have realized it was the same armchair that he had been seated in at Malfoy Manor. However, he didn't look. Luna sighed irritated and then hung back her head to stare at the thunder clouds above them.

"If the sky is always so gray above, why doesn't it ever rain?"

"… …"

Luna giggled at the thought of discussing the weather with the most fearsome dark wizard of all time. Although discussion would imply that he answered back. "This is my dream. I conjured that chair from nothing. What if I made it rain? Or better yet…" She closed her eyes and soft white flakes began descending upon them. She smiled widely at the sky.

The fearsome dark lord was not amused.

She looked at his face, and all of her cheerfulness fell away. She dropped her head as if in apology, and the snow ceased. "You really should sit. You've been standing for so long," she voiced softly.

No response.

"Alright." Luna rose lithely from the pool and waded sinuously through the rippled water. Darkness touched everything in front of her. She stepped up into the field and the darkness melted away. It receded back towards the lone shadowy figure but went no further than the toe of his boots.

She plucked a daisy from the ground and ventured forth to the shadow's edge. Reaching out to place the delicate flower in his hand, she was startled by his sudden movement.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he hissed as he ran a finger down her cheek.

((.)) ((.))

Luna awoke with start hearing only the echo of a scream that must have left her lips. She felt her cheek. It was so hot. Not scathing, but warm as though she had been severely blushing. There was sweat covering the back of her neck, sticky and uncomfortable.

She couldn't entertain the idea of falling asleep again, lest she continue dreaming. An early morning might do her good. She slid from her bed and walked to the baths to shower. At 5:30 she sat down to breakfast in the empty dining hall; however, it didn't stay empty for long. Of all the people to arrive early today, it just had to be him.

Harry waved when he entered the room. After looking around at the unoccupied seats, he decided to take the one across from her. "Good morning, Luna. Do you mind?" He gestured at his desired seat. Luna shook her head while Harry grabbed a piece of toast. "What's got you up so early?"

"Checking the ceiling for nargles. It's hard to see them because of the illusion," she lied. _Harry would be the best person to tell. He knows what the Dark Lord's like. Maybe he could help. _But the dream of Harry chasing her returned to the forefront of her mind every time she saw him. And it terrified her. _He'll help. That's what he does; he helps people._

"Did you find any?"

_What? Oh right, nargles._ "No. Why are you up so early?"

"Oh you know… couldn't sleep."

"Oh."

"Are you okay, Luna?" She nodded vigorously. "It's just, you've been acting a bit off for a while. I'm worried about you." She gave no reply. "I guess nobody's been quite themselves since the Ministry. Did you notice even Malfoy's been acting odd lately?"

"Hmm…"

"Luna… I errr…Look, Professor Trelawney had a umm premonition about you and Malfoy. I'm worried about you. It said you'd fall. And… it's just… I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Thanks Harry, but really, I'm fine." She smiled and placed a hand on top of his. _Tell him! Tell him!_

The doors chose that second to bang open loudly. "See, there he is. I told you I didn't misplace him, Hermione," spoke Ronald Weasley's voice. Harry gave her an uncertain smile and then left to join his friends.

(O) (O)

The memory charm hadn't worked. Voldemort was furious about it. But perhaps it was for the best. She hadn't told anyone she'd been taken. This girl was a puzzle; she wasn't making any sense. Why hadn't she gone running to Dumbledore the first chance she'd got?

He trailed around the drawing room with Nagini at his heels, all the while cursing adolescent females. She knew who he was. In her dream, she'd decided to conjure a chair. Not a wand or a sword or a manticore. A chair. Clearly, she was senile. But it meant she wasn't interested in fighting him. She preferred to just sit and watch and occasionally start up menial conversations.

Nonetheless, Draco had chosen well. Luna Lovegood would be a great addition to the cause. All she needed was a bit of persuasion, some enticing rhetoric, and an inkling of confusion. Then she could be molded into the perfect weapon and spy against Potter.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: It's summer, and the creative blood is flowing freely through my brain. Woohoo! Well it was summer when I started this chapter. Please don't be angry. The next chapter will be very heated. But I can't guarantee it to be punctual.

Chapter Ten

There was no field the next night as Voldemort tried to enter her thoughts. It was more like a hazy memory that began at the verge of sleep than an actual dream. The Great Hall was lit by an early morning sunrise. Lovegood sat in front of him, and across from her was Harry Potter.

"… It said you'd fall. And it's just that I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Thanks Harry, but really I'm… Harry?" Potter's eyes locked onto him, and horror erupted on his face.

"Luna, look behind you! It's Voldemort!"

"Harry, we're at Hogwarts. He isn't really there. It's only your imagination," she told him. "It's just my imagination," she added to herself.

"Luna! This isn't one of your stupid fairy tales!" he shouted at her as he trained his wand over her shoulder.

"They aren't stupid fairy tales. I've told you nothing but the truth. And Harry, he isn't behind me. Because I'm asleep." Luna stood up then, and the Great Hall melted away. The ever familiar flowers bloomed under the soles of Voldemort's boots. Everything was dark this time. Instead of a shiny sun, above there was a billion twinkling stars. They never twinkled like that in real life.

She had her back to him and was rubbing her arms like it was cold. He couldn't feel anything. Her mind always seemed exceptionally warm. "I'm sorry I never change venues. You probably aren't too fond of daisies or ponds. Or sunshine." Her voice was shaking similar to the way his Death Eaters stuttered when they thought he was displeased. "I suppose my imagination is less than adequate when I sleep."

Luna was quiet a long while. Eventually she sat down cross-legged on the grass, fiddling distractedly with the blades. "I still don't know what he was talking about. I can't fall. I have nowhere from which to fall. And it could mean anything. Premonitions and prophecies never have simple answers. It could be referencing me tripping down a flight of stairs."

She spoke all of it out loud, but it didn't appear as though she was talking to him. She was perplexing. Sometimes she treated him as a figment of her own creation. But there were times where she expected him to answer from information that her mind couldn't fabricate, like he was genuinely in her mind and she knew it.

"I'm sorry. You must have more important things to do than listen to me." She let out a pitiful laugh. "But then, why do you show up every night? And why do you watch me everywhere? I've seen your eyes in my books, on the walls and tapestries." She shook her head. "I'm losing it, aren't I?" That sad smile was just pathetic.

She arose from the ground and dove into the pond. Irked, he waited impatiently for her to resurface. She never did.

He left her mind supremely aggravated. Nagini stirred as he came to consciousness. He stroked her head as he schemed to her. "Miss Lovegood needs some help, Nagini," he hissed. "The more she doubts Potter, the more she doubts herself. We can't have that." He pondered it a long time. "I have to show her that she's of sound mind." A difficult task as clearly she was not of sound mind.

~o~ ~o~

The next night he entered her mind as per usual. She was already waiting in the water, an expression of resignation in her body language. She gave him a hazy smile once she saw him.

"I'm sorry I swam off yesterday. I was—"

"Potter is a nuisance. He always has been," he interrupted.

Luna's grin stretched completely across her face, and she spoke the obvious with a bubbly giggle. "You speak. You spoke… without provocation." There really was no need for her to be so cheerful about it. "I thought I'd forgotten your voice." She stood and ran through the water towards him. He raised a hand to stop her, and immediately she was stalk still. _More obedient than most Death Eaters too_, he noted.

"I've been watching you," he claimed, remembering her babbling about his eyes. Her face fell into a more guarded expression, and her shoulders slumped. "I know your very soul, Miss Lovegood. There's nothing that you can hide from me." She was quiet now. Can you answer me this one question? There's something about you that baffles me. Why is it that my own Death Eaters shudder at me knowing their minds, and you openly welcome me into yours? Can you explain that?"

She shuffled her bare feet against the grass and unconsciously pulled at her hair. No decent response came to mind. She spoke nothing, just avoided eye contact.

"There must be a reason. Is this why?" Everything around them turned into a huge screen showing Luna on the floor of Malfoy Manor with Nagini wrapped around her torso. She was hissing out Parseltongue.

"Or is this why?" It changed into the Forbidden Forest. Luna sat feeding a young thestral meat from her hand, talking to it despondently. "Little Luna all alone," he voiced half mocking, half pitying.

"Or maybe it's this one?" The dream of Harry chasing her flashed around them. Luna winced. "I think it's this one. Your valiant hero portrayed as nothing more than a common delinquent. What if he isn't all that he appears to be? Every time you see him, you see this. I tortured you, and yet you always smile when you see me. All you see of Potter are suspicious eyes prying into your dreams. If he knew how you saw me…" He shook his head.

"You could end this now. You could forget about me and never sate your curiosity. You could go back to being Potter's devoted disciple. Just be careful that you don't let him see how much you know about me. He does have a temper, doesn't he? Did you see him after his godfather died? Noble Potter isn't afraid to use the Unforgivables. You can forget all about me. But you won't, will you? You'll dream of me tomorrow and the next day and every day afterwards. Won't you, Miss Lovegood?"

There was the resignation again. "I should be waking up now. I'll see you tomorrow night." She smiled at him, jovial as ever, and then turned to walk away. She disappeared, and he was expelled back into the drawing room of Malfoy Manor. Victorious.

~o~ ~o~

Her roommate's alarm rang shrill and punctual. Luna didn't fancy getting up from behind the curtains of her bed, lest someone notice the unsolicited moisture left in her eyes. Class wasn't the best place to reprioritize everything she knew and cared about in the world. Funny how both morning and classes were situated at the same inconvenient time.

What was she doing? 'I'll see you tomorrow night.' What was she thinking? If she truly had any control over her dreams, then she ought to be capable of forgetting about Voldemort. Unless somewhere in her subconscious she still enjoyed the attention and curiosity he gave her. Then she would continue thinking and dreaming about him regardless of the exceeding necessity that she didn't think about him.

She got to her feet and went about her business just the same. She ate breakfast in silence and walked to class in silence. She kept her customary expression upon her face. Not intent to concentrate on taking notes, she let her hand wander aimlessly across her parchment. When she consulted them later, she was rather surprised to find the page covered in serpentine eyes. And yet, she was not surprised at all.

Luna decided to skip dinner. She spent her time instead in one of the numerous abandoned classrooms, vaguely wondering why Hogwarts was filled with so many unneeded rooms. Luna wasn't one for organization, but under the circumstances her brain didn't seem capable of simply untangling the mess of information on its own. She stood before a chalk board, tilting her head left and right and upside down. She conjured a piece of chalk and just went crazy marking and slashing white streaks over the board.

She stood back to admire the huge ornate eyes adorning the wall. Smiling, she sat down on a front row desk to have a pleasant chat with her artwork.

"So… come here often?" she grinned. "You were in my head last night. You were wrong about Harry. He isn't a nuisance. He's just lost too many loved ones to you to be able to think rationally about it. Rationally?" Her brow furrowed in perplexity. Harry was being rational. "Oh! I'm the one being irrational. He's angry and surly because you kill everyone he cares about. And I'm genuinely happy to see you…oh. That really doesn't make any sense."

She sat pondering the eyes, waiting for answers. "You're charming and frightening. So you're charming me with your mysterious, enchanting ways. Who wouldn't be captivated? No. Nobody would be captivated because you're you." She let her head fall into her hands with a frustrated breath. "I'm not getting anywhere," she told the drawing though it was muffled by her hands.

"Luna?"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Author's Plea: I'm once again terribly sorry about that I took so long. I thought ahead this time and the next chapter is almost finished. It should be done in maybe a week. Merry Christmas! Enjoy!

Harry had been watching Malfoy on the Marauder's Map for a long time now. He checked it meticulously between every class to make sure that Malfoy wasn't anywhere he shouldn't be. The strangest behavior he'd seen thus far was when he had spent hours in the girl's toilet after Katie Bell had been cursed. But that wasn't enough to even convince _Ron_ that Malfoy was involved. Basically, he had no choice but to silently stalk the blasted Death Eater from his dormitory until he could catch him red-handed, in the act, with his metaphorical pants down.

After waiting and watching for much too long, Harry caught him sneaking about during dinner. He was up on the seventh floor taking a fast pace through the twisting corridors. Overly zealous, Harry grabbed his Invisibility Cloak out of his trunk and bounded out the portrait hole. Harry plowed through the corridors, taking the corners a bit faster than his feet would allow. He went sprawling into a particularly narrow hallway. Before he could get up, he heard footsteps approaching. In a panic, he threw himself into the ajar doorway of a nearby classroom. The footsteps kept coming closer and closer. They came right into the classroom.

Harry inhaled sharply at the sight of the white blonde hair but released it after he saw the radish earrings dangling by it. What was Luna doing up here during dinner? She was standing in front of the chalkboard. She had closed the door behind her so that he couldn't leave without alerting her to his presence. Meanwhile Malfoy was getting away. Harry's disappointment dissipated a bit as Luna began attacking the board with her chalk.

She sat down on a desk when she finished. Harry snuck around to the side of her to see what she had made. He stopped in horrified shock to see a pair of eyes straight from his nightmares drawn upon the blackboard. Then she started the conversation that filled him up with blind rage.

"You were wrong about Harry. He isn't a nuisance. He's just lost too many loved ones to you to be able to think rationally about it." Not thinking rationally about losing everyone he had ever loved? Because it was irrational to want to slaughter Voldemort for taking his parents, Cedric, SIRIUS! Who was she to call him irrational? She was the loony one!

"Oh! I'm the one being irrational. He's angry and surly because you kill everyone he cares about. And I'm genuinely happy to see you…oh. That really doesn't make any sense." _Did she say happy?_, Harry thought incredulously. What was wrong with her? She had to be talking about Voldemort. His own mother wouldn't be happy to see him!

"You're charming and frightening. So you're charming me with your mysterious, enchanting ways. Who wouldn't be captivated? No. Nobody would be captivated because you're you." All of Harry's muscles were tensed just waiting for him to snap. He shook from rage. He couldn't control himself any longer.

"Luna?" Her head snapped to face him immediately.

(-) (-)

Fear flooded her bloodstream. "Oh. Hello, Harry."

"Luna, what's going on?"

"Nothing much. I was just doodling." She nodded towards the chalkboard that was now sporting a couple of flying canaries.

"Why are you lying? I heard you talking about me to Voldemort. What's wrong with you!"

"Harry, are you alright? You're turning purple. You haven't got any Capillar Plumbells in you, have you? They quite often make people turn—"

"LUNA! Shut up about caterpillar plumbers! They aren't real. Why did you say you were happy to see Voldemort?"

"There must be a plague of Wrackspurts in here as well. They can sometimes cause hallucinations. It's getting late I should probably go to bed." She hopped off of the desk, desperately hoping to reach the door before he could do something stupid in a fit of anger.

"I'm NOT hallucinating! And you're not leaving until you tell me what you were talking about."

"Goodnight, Harry." She walked through the doorway and then took off at a sprint through the halls of the seventh floor. She had the idea to hide in the Room of Requirement until curfew, so she ran with all her might towards the tapestry of dancing trolls. She paced back and forth along the blank stretch of wall, but to her dismay no door would appear. She pushed against the wall to no avail. "Why won't you open? I need you."

Harry had seen her run, but he didn't have the will to chase after her. He was devastated. He could have been wrong, right? It wasn't Voldemort. No, she had said 'You kill everyone he cares about.' That was Voldemort. What was she doing? What was he trying to do to her? Luna was so pure and innocent; it didn't make sense.

Harry went back to his dormitory determined to find somebody who would listen to a slew of lunatic ravings; although, he was sure that his 'Luna was talking to Voldemort's eyes' speech would pass through deaf ears just the same as his 'Malfoy is a Death Eater' speech had. It's extraordinarily frustrating when the entire world thinks that you need to be dragged to the wacky shack and put on crazy meds. Harry took out the Marauder's map and searched over the seventh floor for Luna or Malfoy. Luna was plowing down a set of staircases. Malfoy was once again missing from the map all together. Harry growled and kicked his trunk.

This wasn't like her. She had to have been cursed or driven crazy by Death Eaters. There wasn't a viable explanation that didn't include torture or brainwashing. It was just wrong! Everything was wrong! He kicked his trunk again.

"Harry? What's going on?" came Ron's voice from the doorway.

"It's nothing."

"I think your trunk would disagree with you there, mate."

"I'm fine, Ron! Okay?"

"Alright then." He threw the hangings shut around his bed, leaving Harry to stand there feeling like a complete idiot.

"Why won't you open? I need you." Fists were pounding against the walls, and Draco stood frozen listening to Luna's panicked voice surrounding the room. Guilt gripped him again, but he refused to let her in. He didn't relax until she had run off. Only then did he return his attention to the unfixable cabinet.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Brilliant red sparks hit her chest forcing her back into a wall. Blood was flowing from the fresh wound on her head. Her predator came towards her, shouting things that didn't make any sense. The next spell had her lying on the floor. Harry advanced on her, seething with rage. Her wand was nowhere in sight. She couldn't do anything. She was helpless and weak and alone. She closed her eyes, feeling the pain play at her nerve endings. He was right above her. Would the great Potter kill?

BANG! The doors to the Great Hall detached themselves and spun crashing into the other side of the room. A serpentine man in flowing black robes floated into the hall, wand trained on the enemy he had created. Nagini slithered in after him and snaked her way up his back to rest across his shoulders.

Luna looked up at her distraction with joy in her eyes. She was saved. She was safe! Harry's weapon moved from her to him immediately.

Harry was yelling again. His opponent was smiling and jeering at him.

Luna tried to stand up. She couldn't be there when the fight started. She had to be out fighting Death Eaters, not here distracting them while they were supposed to be determining the future of the world. Using the wall as a support, she inched her way to her feet.

SWOOSH! A pair of masked men streaked into place behind their master. One's wand was on Harry. The other's was on her. A curse spiraled out towards her, hitting the stone wall a centimeter left of her torso. Voldemort's eyes flashed, though they never left Harry. He hissed at the snake around his shoulders, and Nagini winded her way across the floor to the blonde girl who had once again fallen to the ground.

The serpent snaked her way around Luna's chest, raising her head threateningly in front of the girl's heart. Harry was looking wildly from Voldemort to Luna, comprehension never once gracing his features. His green eyes turned icy as he whispered in Parseltongue, "What more can you expect from a traitor?"

He turned back and yelled, "Stupefy" to the Dark Lord who in turn shouted the Killing Curse. Red and green collided between them. Red and green. Gryffindor and Slytherin. More commonly thought of as good and evil. The thought of Harry being good made less sense to Luna than having the Dark Lord's snake wrapped protectively around her. Good people didn't hurt their friends for having dreams about their enemies in valleys of beautiful flora.

The spells were clashing together dangerously. Nagini was quivering. The light was growing brighter and brighter, becoming blinding. One last flash and she left the Great Hall far behind.

Luna woke up shuddering a long way from her bed. She was leaning against a window sill in the Divination class room. She turned around dazed and confused as to why she was there. The room was heavily perfumed which didn't help her thought processes work out anything. Crystal balls were set out on all the little round tables, smoke twirling about inside of them. She sat down feeling the fog swirling in her head. She stared at the glass sphere on the table, and the smoky tendrils danced around in circles.

The clouds straightened out to form a neat little box which she peered down into. It was a dungeon room: grey and dusty with chains on the walls. There was a little old man lying against the back wall asleep, and there was a little blonde girl sitting in a corner. A snake squeezed through the barred door with a peach in its jaws. The serpent dropped the fruit into the girl's lap and flicked its tongue playfully at her cheek. The little girl laughed and petted its head. It was such a dreary cheery scene. Luna smiled down at them through the pall in her mind.

"Dear child, what are you doing up here at this hour?"

Luna jumped to find Professor Trelawney stooped over the same ball she had just lost herself in. "I'm not sure, Professor. I suspect I may have been sleepwalking." She tilted her gaze back down, but the dungeon scene had dissipated. She was quickly shooed out of the classroom by her extraordinarily anxious teacher and left to wander down the vacant corridors to her dormitory. She took a shortcut through the second floor and found herself standing outside the door to the girl's bathroom.

She suddenly had a very clichéd flashback-type memory of blood splattered across the wall behind her. She was much shyer in her first year of school than she was now four years later. She heard faint voices moving inside the walls, but she had convinced herself that she was simply going crazy. Several people had called her father crazy, and she worried it might be genetic. The whispers were always stronger around Ginny. Luna dearly missed her friend. Ginny spent half of her time around Harry now. She practiced Quidditch with him twice a week; the rest of the time, she stared at him when his back was turned. Luna couldn't blame her. She clearly didn't know that Harry was becoming the kind of evil that slinks through your nightmares.

Regardless of what ever memories she felt like reliving at that moment, she needed to return to her bed before she was caught by wandering prefects. She continued on her way thus missing the tearful gasps coming from within Myrtle's bathroom.

(=) (=)

The cabinet wanted to see him die. Draco had been suffering and wasting away in the Room of Requirement. He'd made an encouraging breakthrough last night. He found an incantation scratched into the ceiling of the cabinet, and it would make things disappear. He put a broken-off chair leg into the cabinet. All of it disappeared, but only half of it would return. While Draco didn't mind too much if only half a Carrow turned up, it wouldn't help any with the task at hand.

It was late. Draco was being taken by exhaustion. He left for the dungeons sulky and drained. He hadn't gone around but three corners before he ran into a big problem. Granted she was definitely the opposite of big, and he didn't quite run into her. He managed to skirt around her but only after coming within five centimeters of her face. He waited with bated breath for her to turn and accost him for being out of bed. But she continued as though she hadn't nearly collided with someone in an unlit hall in the middle of the night.

And then he noticed a small glint in her hair as she walked past a window. A very clichéd melodramatic scene played through his mind as he recognized Luna Lovegood bathed in the moonlight. Draco suddenly had an enormous epiphany that their existed a higher power in the world who was bound and determined to see him suffer for what he had done to that ridiculously innocent girl. He would forever be tormented for hurting her.

He darted towards the nearest passage leading downward. After flying down several sets of stairs and pushing aside a heavy tapestry, he erupted into the main landing of the second floor. He relaxed for a second, resting his hands on his knees and attempting to regain control of his breathing. Footsteps alerted him to the presence of a Hufflepuff prefect making his way up the Grand Staircase. Draco, half asleep and slightly panicked, dove through the closest door without hesitation.

"Who's there?" came a high-pitched, girly voice. "Oh well, well, well. You came back after all. You know, Harry never did come back to visit me. He promised he would, but that was four years ago."

"Oh dear good great Merlin's balls of flaming pot stickers! Oh, it's just you."

"What's that supposed to mean? Oh yes! It's just poor little Moaning Myrtle!"

"I thought it was someone who could get me in trouble. Not that you couldn't get me in trouble. You have a very nice set of lungs on you. Prefects can probably hear you for two floors either way."

"You flatterer," Myrtle giggled.

"That wasn't what I was going for."

"So what brings you to my modest little piece of Hogwarts?" she asked, one hand twirling a strand of translucent hair and the other resting on the curve of her waist.

"What are you doing?"

"Well pardon me if I don't get to talk to too many boys in here. Actually I talk to a surprising amount of boys considering that it's a girls' bathroom. Really there's only been four. I tried talking to them outside of my bathroom but apparently they don't like being watched while they're bathing. I don't know what Harry was so fidgety about. I covered my eyes. I may be dead, but I do still have a bit of class."

"Are you finished yet? Why would you want to look at Potter anyways?"

"Exactly! He thought he was worth looking at. Honestly, you make one comment about bubbles or lack thereof, and they think you're checking them out. And they think I don't notice them looking up my skirt."

"Wait. Can ghosts remove their clothes? I've seen some remove their heads before but never a shirt or trousers or even a shoe…"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She winked at him.

"If I came back as a ghost I'd be stuck in the same clothes I died in. I suppose I should wear something nice to my execution. I'd hate to wear school robes forever. No offense. I wonder if the Dark Lord will kill me himself or if he'll send someone else to do it for him. A Carrow maybe. Although the both of them are hardly capable of casting simple spells. Or Aunt Bella. He'd think it was funny to be killed by my own family. Maybe he'll just feed me to the snake."

"Aren't you a bucket of laughs? Why are you so certain that you'll die soon?"

"I can't tell you. I can't tell anyone."

"Oh, who would I tell? No one ever comes to visit me. I know you were just hiding in here like you were before."

"I have to hurt someone. I don't care what happens to them, but a lot of people are counting on this person to protect them. And I already hurt two other people in the process. I hurt someone really badly, and they can't even remember it. But I remember it. I remember the way her body arched when she was tortured. I can see her chest compressing under the weight of the Dark Lord's snake. Why did she have to be so innocent? Why couldn't she just break down like a normal human being? She had to sit there and smile even during the torture. I attacked her from behind and then I erased her memory afterwards. I'm a coward, a cowardly little snake that lives to lick at his master's feet, begging to be spared one more day. What use am I anymore?"

Myrtle drifted down next Draco who was sitting with his head on his knees. She did her best to lay her permeable head on his solid shoulder. "You aren't useless. You have a life and friends and things to do. You aren't trapped in a U-bend for the rest of eternity. You're alive."

"Yeah. Not for long."

Author's Note: This isn't the end of the story, but I will no longer be posting on it. I'm sorry that I can't finish it. Thank you to the people who reviewed. If anyone would wish to write an ending for my story I would be more than happy to let them do that. If they would leave a review or a PM then I could post another chapter telling where to find the rest of the story that they wrote. Thank you for reading! – SDM


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I know what you're thinking. This looks like another chapter. But believe me; it's all in your head. Okay, I couldn't help myself. I can't guarantee that I'll finish it, but at least we're moving forwards. Also I haven't put in a disclaimer for a really long time, so just in case any of you are really confused and need to spend some time in a mental institute; I'm not JKR, and I don't own anything from the Harry Potter universe. :O

Chapter Thirteen

Luna stood in front of the mirror, twirling around her sparkly ball gown. It couldn't have been more perfect. The whole night would be dazzling. After all, how many fairy tale balls were thrown at Hogwarts? Luna leapt out of her window several meters above the ground. As she floated down, she wondered if she'd have the chance to dance with a stranger. Dancing with strange people was always a thrilling experience. A stranger is only a friend you haven't met yet.

She stumbled on the landing but recovered quickly enough. She skipped into the Great Hall to the sound of an electric saw. Luna scanned over the ballroom in search of her stranger. Ron was prancing around Lavender, and Dumbledore was dipping Professor McGonagall. But her stranger didn't seem to be there. She recognized all the people. How disappointing. It takes two to tango and three beats to waltz. But she was stuck with pirouetting with herself. So she spun in circles and ellipses and pentagons until she was dizzy. Only once she couldn't decide whether she or the earth was spinning did she bump into someone. It just had to be her dance partner! She grabbed his hands, and the two of them twisted and turned to her heart's content. Then he dipped her, and she screamed.

She saw his face and fell to the floor. Picking herself up off the ground, Luna scampered as far away from Harry as she could get in the grand room. The look of hunger in his bright green eyes left no doubt in her mind that she should run. But when had he turned to cannibalism?

Too lost in thought to think about where she was going, Luna ran square into a tall man in a hooded cloak. One again she grabbed his hands and salsa danced farther away from the vicious Potter. Luna looked at her partner this time, but she couldn't see anything of his face. Ah ha! Her tall dark stranger at last. He was graceful, and his cloaked billowed around him magnificently with every turn. He was a perfect fairy tale partner. Maybe if they kept dancing, they could forego any fairy tale sing-a-longs.

Without warning, she was pulled around behind her partner. He had his wand out and expertly trained on Harry the cannibal. He too had his wand out. It was difficult to feel concerned about Harry's wand the way his teeth were gnashing together. Did he grow fangs? Light erupted from both wands. The streams struggled in midair, tangling together and trying to strangle each other into submission. The magical build-up exploded like a pyromaniac's wildest daydream.

Luna blacked out… or whited out because there was definitely a lot of fuzzy white stuff in front of her. She craned her neck around and came face to face with a pair of shocking red eyes. She leapt back and clumsily fell off the side of the bed. From her position on the floor she saw a little cotton-tailed rabbit flee under the neighboring four-poster. Slightly dazed and confused, Luna climbed back into bed and read Unfogging the Future for an hour before getting dressed and heading down to breakfast.

Rabbits symbolize luck and fertility. White rabbits were meant to be guides. But guiding towards what? Towards the dreams? Away from the dreams? Under her neighbor's bed? And what luck? Luna didn't see any luck hanging around? Nope, if she were lucky, then Umbridge was really a sweet old lady who spent her extra time baking cookies for orphans. (Not likely.)

Luna stared down her porridge, looking closely at the exact texture and individual grains and thinking way harder than anybody but Hermione would ever need to. She was wary from all of the confusion, avoidance, and secrets, and now rabbits. The more she thought about her own ridiculousness, the more frustrated she became. She couldn't see Harry as her modest savior anymore. She didn't agree with any of Voldemort's pureblood rhetoric, but was he truly the bad guy here? He was completely predictable in how he would defend his cause. He would destroy anything that stood out as a threat. All that needed to be done to keep him happy was to obey his every command. He had a simple system of justice: pain and death.

Harry wasn't nearly so forth-coming with his actions. He would _try_ not to hurt people, but he put too much judgment on them. If your motives didn't stack up to his expectations of what is good and decent, then you could be ostracized or destroyed because the Golden Boy didn't approve of you. Voldemort didn't care if you were a Death Eater or Harry's best friend, he'd kill you just the same, unprejudiced. Harry was so disturbed and unpredictable. There was no definitive way to determine what would displease him. He was capable of great feats of magic, and you never could tell when you would be on the receiving end of it, when you had frayed his nerves just a little too much. But really… how could she support the Light side and the Dark Lord all in the same thought? Regardless, Luna couldn't bring herself to find anything but fear when it came to Harry.

Voldemort, on the other hand, gave her safety. She needed to be at his side safe and sound through the night because the anxieties of reality were slowly killing her. It was destroying the qualities of her that made her Luna Lovegood. Luna Lovegood was unaffected by the things that made most people want to cower. Luna Lovegood was always daydreaming and happy. Luna Lovegood was pure and innocent. But Harry would call her tainted. She was terrified, and she just couldn't convince her lips to smile.

She was restless after dinner that evening. She still had so long to wait, and it was much too early to attempt sleep. At eight o'clock she left the Ravenclaw Tower to roam the halls. If she kept walking forward it wouldn't seem so much like she was pacing. She lost track of her location after several minutes as she hadn't really been paying attention to where she was going in the first place. She was wrapped up in her thoughts of escaping the world and trying to cover as much castle as possible in an attempt to wear herself out.

She really only wanted to sit in her pool and watch him watching her. She was at peace when Harry didn't turn her dreams into nightmares. She wanted more than anything to sleep until he joined her. She wanted the soothing assurance that he would protect her from Harry. Was the feeling of security too much to ask for? The desire to melt into a happy, hallucinatory dream forced her heart pounding faster. Heat flushed her whole body, and her stomach clenched uncomfortably.

She grabbed at the wall to keep herself upright. The irrational urge to cry hit her like a tidal wave. Her chest ached, and she clutched one hand to her heart to quell its frantic rhythm. She was overcome by a ferocious desire for something she just couldn't have: peace. All of the compounded conflict was bursting inside of her as she felt her left arm being sliced apart.

She screamed with the full power of her lungs, but she wasn't sure if anyone would hear her. She felt blood oozing over her skin, and the cutting continued spreading across her forearm. She slid down the wall just as the sound of footsteps reached her. She looked up at Draco and down at her arm, panicking out of her mind as the life drained from her body.

The delicate cuts had started first down the main artery of her left arm and then split off, superficially slicing across miniscule capillaries. Meanwhile more were erupting in an intricate jagged edge that was cutting and looping across her flesh. It was painful. Every time a new vein was incised, she screamed. Some how the agony wouldn't stop; she'd thought that having been cut along a major artery first, she would have blacked out fairly quickly, but the wounds were magically healing themselves. The exsanguinations didn't cease while Draco Malfoy levitated her to the Hospital Wing.

She glimpsed down at her tortured limb. She saw a human heart encased in ice beating on her skin. The veins that had been traced stood out in the middle of it, branching off across the whole thing. A serpent entwined itself around the scarred mass. Its head moved, and its eyes blinked. The last bits of the snake were scarring over as Draco opened the infirmary door.

Madame Pomfrey took her to a bed. She was tremendously grateful that it had ended. The comfort of soft sheets and the knowledge that the nurse was taking care of her assuaged her fear for a moment. Madame Pomfrey would give her something to help her sleep while a Blood-Replenishing Potion worked its magic through her body. Soon she'd be unconscious and relaxed. With that happy thought in mind, Luna allowed her eyes to shut, anticipating the blissful return to her deluded dreams. A blinding light flashed beneath her eyelids. Her eyes flew open just in time to see the cuts burn black. With it came a more intense pain than she believed to be possible. She shrieked loud enough that she was sure the merpeople beneath the lake and the centaurs in the forest must have heard it.

Draco covered his ears, and Madame Pomfrey gasped in shock at the writhing serpent and pulsating heart. The nurse pulled the curtains closed around Luna, effectively cutting off her terrible screams. She turned on Draco and ordered him to find Professor Dumbledore. Then she disappeared behind the hangings. He felt squeamish from the smell and sound of Luna's blood and wails, but ran swiftly down one floor to Dumbledore's office.

He made it all the way to the Headmaster's gargoyle before realizing that he didn't know the password. "Would you please move?" he asked politely. "A girl's been injured, and the Headmaster is needed." The guardian remained stone still. Thinking quickly, Draco ran down another flight of stairs and around a corner to Professor Flitwick's office. He banged on the door and then opened it without waiting for an invitation. "Sir, Lovegood's been hurt. Madame Pomfrey asked me to find Professor Dumbledore, but I couldn't get into his office."

"What's happened?" the professor squeaked urgently.

"I don't know. I think she's been cursed."

"Go back to the Hospital Wing. Tell Poppy help is coming." Flitwick ran further into his office, leaving Draco to make his way back up to the infirmary and the sights and sounds of Luna Lovegood. He delivered the message and stood in a dark corner of the infirmary, watching the curtains billow as the nurse moved around her bed and watching the door for the help about to arrive. Once again he wondered how someone so innocent could have possibly been dragged into being tortured by dark magic and who had been bold enough to administer something so sinister on the school grounds.

The infirmary doors burst open. Draco was very displeased to find that it was not Dumbledore who entered but rather Snape followed by Flitwick. "The Headmaster isn't here," Snape announced as he drew nearer the only occupied bed. Snape would probably summon him to his dungeon office tomorrow as he had done when Katie Bell had been cursed. Snape probably assumed this was his doing as well. Draco didn't want to wait around to be interrogated, so he returned to the Room of Requirement to investigate Luna's curse.

When he entered the Room, he wondered if he could require a replica of Loovegood's arm. To his horror a severed arm fell into his left hand. He dropped it in shock, inwardly blanching at the sight of bone and gore emerging from the elbow. He toed it over with his boot, but there were no unusual markings or scars to be found. He asked the Room to get rid of it, and it vanished from the floor. He realized with much disgust that someone had left a severed arm in there. He moved to a corner filled several moth-eaten volumes of Dark spells and began leafing through their indexes.

O O O O O O

Luna's throat felt like it was blistering from screaming so much. Madame Pomfrey had long ago put a Silencing Charm on her, but it failed to calm her at all. She felt the air being forced out of her mouth, but no sounds emerged. It was unnatural and unnerving. On top of that, the nurse could no longer hear her begging for a Sleeping Draught. She just wanted to be safe. Safety meant unconsciousness which the infuriating nurse was doing everything to prevent.

"Oh Severus, thank goodness you're here! What do you make of this?"

Snape's rough hand grabbed her wrist and jerked her arm around. He was waving his wand around and muttering to himself in unintelligible words. From the second he touched her, something felt different. There was an unwavering feeling of complete wrongness that he was touching her pooling in her stomach and causing sporadic shivers to shudder along her spine. She began yelling at him too, imploring him to release his grip on her. Again it did her no good.

"She'll need a Blood-Replenishing Potion; that's for sure. But I don't know what else to do for her."

"Give her something for the pain and dreamless sleep. I'll inform you if I think of anything else." No. No. NO. NO! Not dreamless! Aren't you listening?

"Where are you going?"

"To find some answers." The hospital doors slammed closed behind him.

"Come on dear. I have a few things that will help." She pressed a bottle to Luna's lips, but Luna turned her head away. "This will make the pain go away. Drink it." Luna turned her head back around and obligingly accepted the pain medicine. The relief was immediate. "And this will help you rest." Luna covered her mouth with both hands and began wildly shaking her head. "What's wrong? Oh hold on." The nurse flicked her wand Luna's way, and she could hear herself breathe again.

"I don't need anything else. I expect I'll be asleep soon without any potions, and I have to be awake in the morning for class. I wouldn't want to fall asleep in Charms because of unnecessary sleeping draughts."

"I think you should stay here tomorrow. We'll see how you're feeling in the morning. I'll leave the potion on the table here if you change your mind."

"Thank you, Madame Pomfrey." Luna smiled at her, and then turned to snuggle into the warm blankets. The nurse pulled the hangings around her bed and left her alone in the dark ward. She was asleep almost instantly.

There was no sun to be found above the flowering field. The grass and daisies were covered in frost, and the pool was completely iced over. Luna ignored all of it and continued farther into the unfamiliar acres of meadow beyond her little oasis. The chilly air cut into her skin and whipped her hair violently around her face. The frosty grass beneath her feet crunched deafeningly in her head. The sky above pelted her with hail. Tears crystallized in the corners of her eyes. None of it bothered her; it merely spurred her onwards. There was warmth somewhere ahead of her, and she was going to find it.

She walked for hours. He was making her wait. He knew she'd want to talk to him, but instead of alleviating her pain, he was allowing her to be swallowed whole by her curiosity. There's was nothing to do but to wait for him to show himself to be merciful. So she kept trudging against the wind and the sleet, just waiting.

Her bare feet grew numb. She couldn't move without tripping over them. She dragged them along anyway.

She couldn't see more than an inch in front of her. The frigid air hurt her eyes. She squinted against the sleet and forced herself forward.

The wind picked up, and the hail fell faster. The ice cut her arms. The storm sent her staggering to her knees. Luna curled into a ball on the hard ground and cried for hours more. She focused on the world around her, waiting to feel eyes boring into her. He would be here soon, she told herself. Very soon. But he never came.

O O O O

At thirty-seven minutes past eight, the Death Eaters felt the familiar pain of summoning in their left arms. One by one (and occasionally two by two) the Dark Lord's followers gathered in the Malfoy's drawing room. They formed their customary half-circle around their leader leaving spaces for those yet to arrive. When only two spots were unoccupied, Voldemort stood to address his Death Eaters.

He lifted his arms and smiled in a comical imitation of Dumbledore. "Welcome my loyal followers. I've gathered you here to celebrate. This is a most fortuitous night for our Cause. Tonight a young Pureblood has been branded! The Death Eaters applauded loudly although uncertain as to why they applauded.

"My Lord, who is it that joins us tonight?"

"Why don't I let our tardy friends explain?" He gestured to the back of the room. The circle immediately pulled apart to let Snape and Draco kneel at their master's feet. "Severus, Draco, tell them who joins our ranks tonight."

"Luna Lovegood, sir," Draco voiced beneath his mask. His stomach twisted into knots.

"My Lord, that BLOOD TRAITOR doesn't deserve our mark!" Bellatrix yelled outraged.

"Do you question me, Bellatrix? Do you believe you know better than your master?"

Bellatrix bowed deeply and addressed the floor. "No, My Lord. But the Lovegoods have never seemed interested in the Cause. They have, in fact, been fully supportive of the Potter brat."

"Bella, you ought to know how persuasive I can be." There were chuckles from all around the room.

"Of course, My Lord. Forgive me."

"She will be a valuable asset to us." Voldemort's perverse smile strained Draco's stomach even further. He decided to spend the party catching up with his mother instead of toasting the cries of an innocent girl. He was more than happy to return to Hogwarts.


End file.
